Resource Allocation

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Resource Allocation

• Lecture 7
• Software project management

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Lecture Overview

• Resource Identification
• Resource Distribution
• Resource Scheduling

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What is Resource Allocation

• After the activities have been identified using
  various techniques and tabulated into a
  Work-Break-Down the resources need to be
  allocated to complete the identified tasks. This
  process is considered resource allocation.

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Who allocates resources?

• Project Manager.
• Concentrate on resources where there is a
  possibility that, without planning, they might
  not be sufficiently available when required.
• Senior Software Developers are the hardest to
  find these need to be very carefully planned
  for in advance.
• Developers do not like to wait for work, they
  prefer to be busy with activities and tasks that
  show clear progress.

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Result of Resource Allocation

• Reflected in many schedules,
• Activity Schedule.
• Resource Schedule.
• Cost Schedule.
• Changes to these schedules are very much
  interrelated and require domain experience to
  get it right.

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Resource Categories

• Labour (Even the project manager).
• Equipment (Coffee Machine?).
• Materials (Consumed items floppy disks).
• Space (Rooms, Cubicles).
• Services (Telecomm, Cleaning services).
• Time (The most rigid item of all).
• Money (Secondary resource).
• Note These are broad categories only.

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Resource Organisation

• A program organization chart is essential to
  allocate staff effectively,
• Develop the hierarchical program organization.
• Identify Roles and Responsibilities.
• Plan for number of staff in each role (at a high
  level).
• Establish Teams.

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Resource Requirement Identification 1

• For each activity identify,
• Work amount required (in work units)
• Basic skill or experience level required (to even
  undertake the task)
• Complexity of the task (this will help to
  determine the experience required)
• Task Category (Unskilled, skilled, leadership,
  expert, management)

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Resource Requirement Identification 2

• Example.
• Activity Install Network Hardware for 20
  computers.
• Work units - 20.
• Basic Skill Bachelors Degree in related field.
• Task Complexity 5.
• Task Category Skilled (other categories may be
  Management, Leadership, Expert)

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Resource Scheduling

• After all the required resources have been
  identified, they need to be scheduled
  effectively.
• The earliest start dates, last start dates will
  need to be taken into account to schedule
  resources efficiently.
• Resources should be balanced throughout the
  project.

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Resource Scheduling 2

• Human resource scheduling issues,
• Planned Leave, Public Holidays.
• Possible sick leave (random, subjective at best
  and hard to predict).
• General motivation and enthusiasm for the task
  allocated (If they dislike the task, it will flow
  through into the output).
• Work load and stress in project.
• Stress outside work.

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Resource Histograms

• Commonly used during planning to indicate
  possible problem areas,
• People (by category) Vs Week Number
• For each individual estimated number of tasks
  (including complexity) over weeks
• This helps in reducing work load some times to
  help the individual recover from any heavy load.
• Category Vs Week

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External Dependencies

• When planning any resources that rely on external
  factors, these need to be planned with the
  associated risks involved.
• Float or slack is the amount of time that a task
  in a project network can be delayed without
  causing a delay to
• subsequent tasks ("free float")
• project completion date ("total float")

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Parallel, Sequential Tasks

• Tasks run both in parallel and sequentially.
• Depending on the activity network and critical
  path, resource allocation needs to be planned
  effectively.
• Competing tasks need to be prioritised with risk
  before resource allocation.

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Prioritisation Techniques

• Total Float Priority
• Ordered List Priority
• There are many others that refine on top of
  these, but broadly these cover the general cases
  well.

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Total Float Priority

• Ordered according to their total float.
• Smallest total float has highest priority.
• Activities are allocated resources in ascending
  order of total float.
• Changes to plan will require re-calculation.

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Ordered List Priority

• Activities that can proceed at the same time are
  ordered according to a set of simple criteria.
• Burmans priority list takes into account
  activity duration as well as total float
• Shortest critical activity.
• Critical activities.
• Shortest non-critical activity.
• Non-critical activity with least float.
• Non-critical activities.
• Note Other ways of ordering are also possible.

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Critical Paths

• Resource scheduling will almost always change the
  activity network.
• The changes often result in changes to the
  critical path.
• Delaying an activity due to lack of correct
  resources will cause that activity to become
  critical after it uses up all its slack time.
• These changes are often experienced after the
  project has started which will require adapting
  during the project (this is normally much harder
  in practice).

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Cost of Resources

• All projects concentrate on completion in the
  shortest time span with minimum resources (in
  planning stage).
• However, once the project starts all un-planned
  for issues and any risks will cause some strain
  on the cost.

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Resource Allocation Issues

• Availability
• Criticality
• Risk
• Training
• Team Building

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Cost Scheduling

• Broad Categories
• Staff.
• Overheads (Office Space, Interest charges, Travel
  Costs, Insurance and so on).
• Usage charges (for external resources or
  contractors, leased/rental equipment).

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Scheduling in Practice

• It should always be in the project planners
  mind, right from the start of the project.
• During the resource scheduling and allocation
  phase of the planning activity a lot of the plan
  will change.
• Most of the issues with respect to resource
  allocation and scheduling arise after the project
  starts (normally after about 30 of the
  activities are complete).

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Summary

• Identify all resources required.
• Arrange activity start/end dates to minimise
  variations in resource levels over the duration
  of the project.
• Allocate resources to competing activities in a
  rational order of priority.
• Critical/High-Risk activities should be backed up
  by experienced staff.

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References

• Hughes. B and Cotterell. M, Software Project
  Management, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill 1999.
• Cantor. M. R, Object Oriented Project Planning
  with UML, Wiley 2000.